Research: 84% of Students Used "Homework Help Sites"

Plus, Chegg is begging to buy your course materials. Plus, Quick Bites.

Issue 62

New Research on Student Motivations Shows 84% of Students Used “Homework Assistance Sites”

A new research report from Kenneth J. Smith and David J. Emerson of Salisbury College (MD) and Shawn Mauldin of Mississippi State University, looks at student decision-making pathways to help determine what conditions, influences and considerations lead a student to commit academic misconduct.

The title - “Online cheating at the intersection of the dark triad and fraud diamond” - reads like a James Bond installment. But this new research is fascinating and important in that understanding why students cheat is essential to mitigating it.

And I will get to those findings in an upcoming Issue of “The Cheat Sheet.”

Before that, as part of their query, the research team surveyed 209 accounting majors from two public American universities on their use of “homework help sites.” The survey mentions Chegg by name and asks if students used these services, knew of those who uploaded materials to them or if they personally uploaded materials.

A stunning 84% of students reported using these sites at least once, 60% said they knew of people who shared academic materials on them, and curiously, just 9% acknowledged uploading and sharing academic materials personally.

The results:

Used online homework assistance sites:

• Never 16%

• Once 24%

• A few times 36%

• Many times 24%

Heard of a peer who has provided assignment solutions to an online assistance website (e.g., Chegg):

• Never 40%

• Once 19%

• A few times 20%

• Many times 21%

Personally provided assignment solutions to an online assistance website:

• Never 91%

• Once 7%

• A few times 1%

• Many times 1%

The survey was limited to just “homework assistance sites” and therefore did not include all cheating. And, of course, this is self-reported behavior, which has been shown to undercount.

Quoting the study’s lead author, Kenneth J. Smith,

Given the self-reported nature of the data, and our assurances of confidentiality notwithstanding, the actual incidence of assignment assistance website usage may be higher than that reported; disclosures of this nature are contrary to our respondents’ self-interest and indicative of academic integrity violations. 

Honestly, I can’t imagine - or don’t want to think about - the rate of accessing cheating sites if 84% and 60% are under-representative of what’s actually happening.

More on this important study to come.

Chegg is Buying Course Materials

Notorious cheating provider Chegg, already facing a legal challenge to its selling potentially copyrighted course materials (see Issue 57), has begun buying course content directly from professors, who are probably original copyright holders.

Through a program they’re calling “uversity,” Chegg is paying many times the going rate for course and class materials and marketing to professors directly. I know this because they accidentally offered to buy them from me though a direct message on LinkedIn:

By sponsoring a message on LinkedIn, Chegg is both over-paying for these materials and paying to offer to buy them.

And given where the company is, a special note should be paid to the fact that Chegg wants materials “authored by dedicated professionals like you,” which is to say, the holder of the rights. Note could also be made that Chegg is specifically asking for exams and quizzes. And that they are, it seems, very eager to buy these materials by the end of the year.

A cynic may ask why Chegg is so motivated to buy clean copyright test and quiz questions right now. So, I’ll ask - Why Chegg is so motivated to buy clean copyright test and quiz questions right now?

Moving from Proctored Exams to Open Book

Debbie Fetter, an assistant professor at the University of California, Davis, wrote recently about her move from proctored exams to open book format.

The bulk of the piece is about why she revised her tests including a desire to ask more open-ended questions and that virtual proctoring “invoked fear” in her students.

Having to transition during the pandemic, she writes:

Last spring, the proctoring centers had to close down, and live proctoring with a person at the other end was no longer an option.

Though a live option is available, and preferred, by most remote proctoring providers, she goes on to add that her shift had other consequences:

Yes, the grading load has increased compared to the automated proctored exams. But, going completely online has also removed some of the in-person responsibilities our instructional team used to do, such as in-person proctoring.

And that:

we still see some issues of academic integrity, most of these were because students had different expectations about the open-book exam.

A multi-hour, open book, non-proctored, online exam in a large, not-major-track course - I bet there were “some issues” of cheating.

Anyway, her views and experiences in moving away from proctoring to open book exams is different and worth a review.

“The Cheat Sheet” Quick Bites

• According to local reporting, Iowa State University is setting up an academic integrity office saying, “The amount of academic dishonesty taking place according to the university fluctuates, but they have seen increases since the pandemic hit.”

• An outlet called “Rust Wire” has an advice column related to K12 education. Recently a parent wrote in seeking advice on cheating. The parent wrote, “From what I’ve gleaned from discussions with other parents, cheating is a widespread problem, and we’re not the only frustrated family.”

• A student at Guilford College (NC) wrote in their student paper that, “Unfortunately, cheating has become a staple in online learning. There are several online programs that allow students to cheat on papers and quizzes. These programs don’t allow students to ‘better their education’; instead, they encourage laziness.”

• An article in The Philippines outlies cheating among K12 students there, including an answer-sharing group on Facebook that had 600,000 members. Education Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio said, “This is alarming. It is not helping that instead of the children putting in their efforts to learn, they just copy from each other.”

In the next “The Cheat Sheet” - digging into that study on student motivations for cheating. Plus, a major development on cheating from Australia. Plus, a stock trader goes off on Chegg - and uncovers a real vulnerability. Plus, more cheating.

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